Archive for July, 2010

I fell behind on doing the postings this week because I had a midterm that was due on Sunday. I was so exhausted from intensely trying to prepare and successfully complete my Biostatistics Midterm that I did not have time for much else.

A few people have asked me why I continue to attend school. My answer is simple, I absolutely unequivocally love attending school..and I always have. I enjoy the challenge and I enjoy learning new and in-depth concepts. The whole process of school (e.g. deadlines, tests, memory exercises, etc) helps to keep me on my toes. Even though I complain a little I love what I do as it is my personal goal to educate myself. Once I obtain my doctorate I can scratch “obtaining my education” off of my bucket list. Lol!

What are you all pursuing out there? Any dream and goals that you would like to share? What are you doing to achieve your goals?

I have received several emails from people around the United States and the world in regard to my previous posting about drinking alkaline water. Thank you! Some people have asked me where they can purchase the alkaline water. At first, I had a hard time finding a source where the water can be purchased as I only knew of places to purchase the water in California. At your request, I did a little research and found a place where you all can purchase the water online and have it shipped to you. I do not know if the company ships overseas but they do ship within the U.S. If you would like to read more on the benefits of drinking alkaline water, feel free to read my previous posting.

I have received several emails about the first “sex is spiritual posting,” so I have decided to write a little more on the topic.

As you all know I am still a virgin. I have chosen to stay a virgin as I truly believe that sex is spiritual. I am adamant that my body, mind, and soul should only be shared with my husband. I think that if I were having sex and going from sex partner to sex partner that I would be carrying those partners experiences, spirits, and soul nature into the next relationship. I think that this is a recipe for disaster as it takes time and prayer to remove the spiritual baggage that other people leave us with. Again, this notion is what I believe as I walk out my journey and consciously observe the world.

I want to encourage you to learn and excel in math and the sciences. When I was a young girl I loved school. I had a natural talent for spelling and science. I struggled with advanced math classes like Algebra and Geometry because I did not understand the mix between math and letters. Lol! Even though advanced math was a struggle for me I used all of the resources that were available to me. I went to office hours with the instructor, I found free tutoring, and I organized study groups so that I could ask questions of students who found that advanced math was simple.

So, in closing, I encourage you to develop yourself in the math and science disciplines and I assure you that you will go farther in your career. Also, as young ladies there will be many scholarships and grants (money that you do not have to pay back) available to you when you graduate from high school and are ready to enter college.

I wrote this blog about eight(8) months ago when my Dad passed away. At that time I started a blog called Footprints of Death (www.footprintsofdeath.blogspot.com) to chronicle my feelings toward death and the effects of grief in my life. Since then, I am marveling at my progress, but I thought it was important to take a look back and share this very personal story on my Journey With Judith Blog.

Footprints of Death……………

Today was interesting. It felt like I had my head in the clouds today. It’s a struggle to keep up this blog because I am fighting the “intense” feeling to go numb and just go through the day doing the usual mundane tasks that need to be done.

I remember this exact feeling after I lost my Mommy in October 1999. When she passed I worked, I tried to immediately enrolled in school, I went to church (joined a new church), and did all the tasks that were expected of me, but I did them all in AUTOMATIC. I was numb, I was emotionless but no one, not even my closest friends, seemed to notice. That experience taught me that we all have our “stuff” that we face and we are so busy dealing with our own stuff that we sometimes do not take the time to notice or care for someone else. I really don’t ever want to be that kind of person! My mission in life is to help as many people as I possible can by being transparent about the events of my life, in hopes that others can avoid some of the pitfalls that I faced. Sorry, I went off on a tangent, back to 1999. After my Mom passed in 1999 I did everything and I do mean everything in automatic for about 4 or 5 years. I had no idea that time had passed me by in that way. The only reason I started to realize how fast time had passed, was when I noticed my little cousins growing at what seemed to be an alarmingly fast rate. Lol! That’s how out of it I really was, and again, no one knew.

Turning Point:

My turning point came when I went to the “new church” that I had joined called “Faithful Central Bible Church (FCBC) in Los Angeles. I had never gone to a church that large in my life and I found it very intimidating. Over time, I came to enjoy seeing thousands of people together in one place giving thanks and praise to God. It was quite an experience.

Anyway, in a service, Bishop Ulmer, the Senior Pastor, preached a sermon about Ruth and Naomi from the book of Ruth in the Bible. In fact, I think it was a series on the Book of Ruth but don’t quote me. Anyway, in the story, Naomi was the matriarch of the story and her daughter-in-law was Ruth. Naomi lost her husband and her two sons in death. Both Ruth and Naomi were now widowers. Naomi had no immediate living family, but she had a daughter-in-law named Ruth who refused to leave her alone. Bishop Ulmer stopped and interpreted the following scriptures:

Ruth 1:20 when Naomi said this about God, “Do not call me Naomi (pleasant), call me Mara (sorrow), for the almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”

Ruth 1:21 what Naomi told the people in the new city she moved to, “I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi ( pleasant), since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

Bishop Ulmer proceeded to teach the meaning of Naomi’s given name, which meant pleasant. Then, he also explained the meaning of the name that Naomi gave herself, Mara, which meant sorrow. He said that Naomi was in grief, depressed, and in fact “angry with God” for taking away all of the people that she loved. He said, even in Naomi’s anger, she still loved and respected God and saw him as sovereign, even though she was mad at God.

At that moment, a light bulb filled my soul and I knew why I was numb to family, friends, work, and everything else. I too was mad at God for taking away my Mommy. I was raised in the “church” environment my whole entire life. My Dad was a minister and my Mommy was a church missionary. To say or even allude to the fact that you were or could ever be mad at God was an absolute abomination!!!! But here it was in the Bible, a real person, who felt exactly the way that I felt. I was mad at God!!! Yes, I was mad at God, but yet I still loved and respected him with my entire being. I always know that He has my best interest at hand in all things……but I was so happy to hear someone speak to the “condition of my soul” at that moment. After that service, I asked God to help me forgive Him (God) for taking away my Mommy and I asked God to forgive me for harboring bad feelings against Him (God). Instantly, the sun in my soul was shining again.

Although, I have never had the chance to tell you to your face, thanks Bishop Ulmer!!!! God used you to save my life!!!! Even as I recant this story again, I truly think that God is using you again to help me see my way clear from the recent death of my Daddy. Bishop Ulmer, now I think I owe you twice (smiling)!!!

I have been using this Cell Food Product for over a month now and I love it! Without this product I would retain so much water regardless of my salt intake. I thought this was strange but nothing helped me before. My doctor put me on water pills for a while but I did not stay on those as I knew the long-term effects of those pills could hurt my kidneys. Anyway, I had a full physical and my blood pressure was stable, I am losing water weight, and I have a ton of energy. I do not know all of the biological interworkings of this product on the human body, but I do know that it works for me.

If you would like information about this product please read previous blogs. Take care!

I have been working out with my Trainer. The session usually lasts about an hours. Whew! It’s a long and laborious process but I feel better each time I go. I hope you all are joining me on my journey toward healthy living because I could use the support. Lol!!!

This week’s topic is one that I am sure that people in your immediate circle of family and friends do not want to broach. I want to speak with you about your emotional and mental health. As young ladies, you may experience abandonment, disappointment, heartache, heartbreak, perhaps violence, hatred, disrespect, and a host of other negative emotions. During these times you may feel like the walls are caving in around you, you may lose the will to live, but I am telling you that the difficult times in your life are only “seasonal.” Please do not do anything to hurt yourself or anyone else during a difficult moment. During these times please surround yourself with a friend or family member that you feel safe with and share your heart with that person. Never be afraid to share how you really feel in a difficult time because releasing your pain allows you to heal and start to think about how to move forward. Also, in those difficult times, it is a great idea to have a relationship with God. This world we live in will tell you that the best way to deal with difficult times or personal problems is to eat more, drink more alcohol, smoke more, etc. Believe me, using any substance to take your mind off of a problem does not solve the problem. In fact, it makes the problem worse because if a person never takes the time to deal with the problem, then they could become addicted(e.g. alcohol,food, & drugs) to the very thing that they used to forget the problem. Vicious cycle right? I know, so that is why I am warning about this potential pitfall.

You know that I do my best to be honest with you in this forum so I write about the things that I know or have experience with. I have been in the bellows of disappointment, depression, despair, and grief but knowing that God heard my prayers made me feel better. Don’t get me wrong I did not feel better immediately. Sometimes at first I felt worse but when I decided to release my control of the situation and cast the problem on God, then I felt better and God took the problem and turned it into something positive in my life. At all costs, positive of course, fight to protect your emotional well-being. Learn to center yourself (thoughts, will, and emotions). Remember a walk, a run, listening to music, or going to a serene place may help you to center yourself too. If I had to write an equation about how to deal with the difficulties of life, it would be: Relationship With God – Life’s Difficulties + Prayer + Family/Friends = Emotional Well Being.

In a previous blog I shared my personal story in regard to my struggle with chronic diseases like asthma, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Chronic diseases negatively impacted the quality of my life. Chronic degenerative diseases, especially heart disease and cancer, are now the leading causes of death in the United States (Schneider, 2006).

Like I shared before, I did not have a “revelation” about my poor quality of health until I was in class for my Masters of Public Health, when my professor started to name risk factors. I had all of the risk factors that she mentioned and that night as I sat in that class I had already been diagnosed with asthma (since birth), high blood pressure, and I was pre-diabetic. That night in class changed my life and I vowed that I would not only pursue a healthy life for myself, but I vowed to attempt to help other people understand their health better too.

After leaving that class, I started on my first journey which was to lose weight. I joined Lindora, a weight loss program, and lost 50 pounds. Next, I counted the months that I had been on blood-pressure medication. It had been a year. I started to read about the ways that I could reduce my blood pressure. After my studying, I started to use Morton’s Lite Salt (it has potassium in it which helps the body relieve excess water), but I mostly used spices to season my food. I stopped eating foods that were not cooked in olive oil (2 tbsps) which meant that I prepared most meals for myself. I realized that eating out was a bad choice for me because I could not control how the meal was prepared and it was a little aggravating asking the waiter to please bring me chicken cooked in olive oil, with no salt, spices only, with a dash of lemon on top. Lol! I learned that people with high blood pressure need to read all labels as most processed or already prepared foods have a ton of salt in it. Learning this information meant that I gave up most canned foods, most frozen foods, potato chips, crackers, anything and I mean anything that had already been pre-salted. This one change made a huge difference for me. It really worked!!! I also started to exercise 2-3 times a week, no matter what. I drank a gallon of alkaline water or more per day. After about a year, I no longer had the symptoms of high blood pressure. In terms of the diabetes, I was only pre-diabetic so after changing my lifestyle I was no longer in the danger zone.

I learned, in order to fight chronic disease I had to have a plan or goal. For me, my first goal to combat each chronic disease was to change my lifestyle so that I would not need to take the prescription drugs for those diseases. I sat down and added up all of the money I was spending each month and each year to purchase these drugs. After I added up how much money I was throwing away I became angry because I realized that I could have been putting that money into an IRA for my retirement (Lol! I know I was 34 years old back then but a woman always has to be prepared). After watching two very sick parents struggle with illness all of my life, I learned that prescription drugs can help to lengthen life but they have negative long-term health effects. Currently, I have one last chronic disease and one health risk to slay and I am working diligently to conquer both of them.

Anyway, I decided to share my story again because I want people to understand why this blog exists. It exists to help myself by providing a cathartic medium to discuss my journey and it exists to possibly help others in case they feel that there is no hope for their lives or health issues. I am living proof that there is always hope, no matter how bleak the diagnosis. I have included before and after shots to evidence my story. Lol!

I love to read and learn but sometimes a class comes along that makes me want to scream……Biostatistics is that class. I have an understanding of the material but I still feel lost. I cannot explain it but I usually have a mental clarity about my classes that gives me the self-efficacy to know that I am fully understanding what I am learning. I hope that I develop that “I know what I am doing feeling” really soon.

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